


Who Was Clueless and Who Was In Denial?

by Kawaii_Chibi_InuDemon



Category: Danny Phantom
Genre: Angst, Drama, F/M, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-05
Updated: 2020-11-05
Packaged: 2021-03-08 18:21:55
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 10
Words: 19,302
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27401152
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kawaii_Chibi_InuDemon/pseuds/Kawaii_Chibi_InuDemon
Summary: Strange things seem to happen to Sam after she and Danny go to a movie, that ran a vague trailer early in the morning and is only shown in one move theater.... On top of all that an unlikely ally comes to the halfa's aid to protect the woman that they both love...It was like a bomb had been dropped with those words. The pain hitting both, though Sam refused to be drawn back into that while standing before her best friend. Danny's eyes narrowed, but he turned and left, the Goth throwing the closed energy drink through the kitchen window moments later.
Relationships: Danny Fenton/Sam Manson
Kudos: 1





	1. Chapter 1

A small raven haired woman twisted in her black sheets, her body slick with sweat even though her covers had long been discarded on the side of her king sized bed and the air conditioning still ran strong in the room. Her fan was blasting at the end of her bed, the head of the fan rotating as it circulated the air and yet for the woman it was the same every night. Her body burned up, her pulse skyrocketed as nightmares plagued her night time. It was becoming a problem that her friends and family had yet to notice, but that was because when she got up she immediately put make-up on because one of her close friends had this knack for showing up unannounced.

"Ugh," the petite woman said as she flew up, her back arching as pain filled her small form. 'That was new.' Pain hadn't been a problem when the nightmares had started all those weeks ago. No, it had started with just small little dreams that had started out on a good note before twisting into something that woke her up. Then it had become nightmares that started her night and left her shaking in her bed from midnight on. "Guess I need to start taking stronger sleep meds," the woman muttered as she crawled out of bed, the clock next to her bedside reading 12:01am.

She had started taking vegetarian sleep pills, the chewable tablets making her sleep peacefully through the first week until the nightmares took on a more realistic feel and then the pills stopped being as effective. Heading for her bathroom she hopped into the shower for a long hot shower, her late morning ritual having become a midnight ritual. Like a vampire. It was a pretty interesting thought and yet her parents would think her morbid for thinking that, but since her parents had died last year in a hit and run the small woman didn't have to worry about their thoughts on her lifestyle. As she continued her soothing shower someone else was having a similar problem.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

The toned male wrestled with his sheets as his body glowed unnaturally, well, for most it was unnatural while for him it was just his other half… His ghost half. The young male opened his eyes, the ice blue orbs dazed and sparkling with what appeared to be a fever, but like the woman he was having nightmares that had begun to interrupt his sleep as of late. They hadn't been to annoying until this last week when he could feel the pain that was from the attacks in his dreams.

He could feel a lot of things in his dreams, but feeling her blood on his hands had been the last straw as he held his dark haired friend in his arms as she died. He could feel her warm skin and smell the scent that could only belong to her. Lilacs. He could feel as her pale skin grew colder and grey tinged. It haunted him in the daytime as well as the night and it certainly didn't help when he fought ghosts with her as his helper. He was beginning to worry because not only did he fear her getting hurt, he was beginning to find that her death a distraction earning him a pair of broken ribs in the last battle.

She had taken the ghost down at that point, but Danny still worried. He knew Sam was stronger than most of the women he had known in his life, except for his ex-girlfriend, the ghost hunter. The Gothic woman was strong, but she was human and could die easier than he could. 'I need to find a way to protect her better while at the same time not causing me to get hurt.' He was thinking of just telling her that she couldn't fight with him, but he knew how that would end. You can't tell me what to do, Danny. You aren't my dad, nor are you my husband! That was how it went no matter what he tried to do when it came to her safety. It shouldn't shock him since she had been that way forever.

He had begun to worry about her after both her parents were killed by a drunk driver last year, but the young woman had spurned his worry with an attitude bordering on disgust. She understood that as an only child she should mourn the loss of her parents, but she found she couldn't even muster up tears on the day of their funeral, her amethyst orbs just staring blankly at their two coffins. Danny had worried about that too because he thought she was holding in her pain even though they had caused her pain with their hurtful words and lack of understanding of her character. Sam was not like either of them, hell; she failed to look like either of them while taking on more characteristics of her grandmother, Gram.

Danny chuckled at that because even as an aged woman, Gram, had as much if not more spunk and energy than your average teenager. Throwing what was left of his sheets off the bed he crawled out, his feet taking him toward the stash of liquor he kept in his room. Pulling out the fifth of clear liquid he headed back toward his bed where he filled the small drinking glass that he kept beside his bed. The halfa usually used it for water, but since it was midnight and he needed his sleep for fighting ghosts he knew he would need a shot. Re-stashing the bottle he reached to pick up the glass, his ice powers used to frost and chill the drink. Danny didn't like hot alcohol, since it already burned going down, so he didn't think he needed a harsher burn. Shooting down the contents he placed the glass back on the bedside table before laying back.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Back in the woman's room she was painting, most of her wall covered with her anonymous works. No one knew that those posters and paintings were her own pieces. She refused to tell even Danny and the halfa had complimented them every time he saw a new one. Shaking her head she went back to the mermaid before her, the spiked tail making it look like a monster mix. Smiling she added more green to the tail while her music played in the background.

Yeah, Sam had so many projects, some actually sold to the public, all of them under an alias. Alexandra. That was her middle name and thank god that there had only two people who knew of this and those two were her deceased parents. Sure, she was sad that they were dead and yet at the same time she felt relief that they were no longer hovering over her with dresses and lessons to be learned, as well as their hateful things they said about Danny. That had been why she had truly hated them. Sure, she was their daughter so they were entitled to their ideas of how she was to grow up, not that it had mattered since the Gothic woman had rebelled every chance she got, but Danny was not their child, so they were not entitled to say one bad word about him.

There had been times that Sam had screamed at them when they made remarks about how poor looking the boy was or how he needed to learn how to walk or that his family were a bunch of crazies that needed to be wiped off the face of the Earth. She had let them know how she felt about the Fentons on numerous occasions. She had praised their parenting while downing her own parents' ideas on how a child should be raised. She had pointed out that her own parents were crazier than the Fentons could ever be with their old fashioned plans and training.

Sam had to admit that her parents had raised her as if she were a porcelain doll that was to be on display for the best buyer who would take her home and do as they had tried to do. Use her as eye candy. She knew her parents were disappointed with her attitude and lack of proper manners. Having great grades and scores on everything she put her mind to had never made them happy, if anything they had become more upset that she could accomplish so much and fail at doing what they wanted her to do. Stepping back she wiped sweat from her brow as the sun rose high over the horizon, but she had pulled her curtains closed so that it would not bother her since Sam wasn't a big fan of the sun and mornings in general. She loved the night time and couldn't wait until the moon rose high in the sparkling skies. Looking at her art she smiled. It had turned out rather well with the mermaid looking deadly and yet exquisitely feminine. It was her as a mermaid, but no one would figure that out because she had glamorized it to the point that unless Sam wore the same make up and had the same length of hair she would never be found out.

"Hey!" The Goth turned around quickly, her body standing before her art as she came face to face with Danny. "Whatcha' doing?" Sam glared at her best friend, his intrusion another thing that made her angry. Sure, he was her friend and she loved him dearly, but man did he like to scare the shit out of her!

"Trying not to die today," she muttered as she moved forward to make him turn around. "What have I told you about popping up in my room unannounced?" His muttered response obviously expressed to her his displeasure in her rule. "I guess you are a pervert then, huh?"

"What?!" he cried out as he attempted to turn back to her, in which she forced him to stare forward as she backed up to grab a sheet to cover up her work. "What in the hell do you mean by that?!" He turned, his cheeks burning red as he eyed his best friend.

"Well, let's see…." She faded off looking thoughtful. "What happened when we were fifteen and you decided it was okay for you and Tucker to pop into my room one morning before school?" The halfa's face turned a deeper red as his hand fell to the back of his head and he let out a nervous chuckle. Yeah, he remembered that day and he remembered almost killing Tucker.

Truth was he was rather pleased with his peep on her, not because he was a pervert because he wasn't, but Danny had had a thing for Sam after his dates with Valerie had turned sour, his affection for the ghost hunter and the cheerleader, Paulina, having made him see that those girls were nothing but pit stops in his romantic life. He had realized early on that Sam was the woman for him with her loyalty, her fighting skills, and her attitude for life. When she had turned sixteen she had started to bud, her body filling out in all the right ways, though she tried to hide her looks under baggie clothing for the first year since none of the other girls had filled out as earlier as she had.

Now she still wore rather baggie clothing, but not always, just when she felt like being comfortable. She claimed that all the stuff most women wore were rather painful and she was all about the comfort. Right now she wore black shorts that barely covered her ass while her shirt was white with lots of paint covering it. He could tell that she wasn't wearing a bra, but she had been up front with him about that one time when he had knocked her down during a ghost attack. That had been a rather awkward moment for the pair of them, but he had enjoyed it as well.

"So, what's up?" she inquired as she moved to clean up her art supplies leaving the halfa to look at the covered canvas. He wondered about that. She had never shown him any of her art projects, though there were the ones she had done at school that she had done as part of her grades, but those had been generic. Sam never did that kind of work, but for that class she had even though he could tell she wasn't proud of it.

"Nothing much, just wanted to know if you wanted to go to a movie or something?" A thin black brow rose in question.

"No ghosts?" she queried as she disappeared into the bathroom. Danny smiled. They had tried to hang out on the occasions, but every time they were stopped or interrupted by a ghost attack. When he gave her the affirmative she came back out with a smirk that showed quite baldly that she didn't believe him. "Danny, you can't even confirm that." He smirked now.

"I am going to today since it has been rather quiet these last few days." She nodded in agreement. It had rather hushed in the Ghost Zone for the last few weeks. In fact, it had been that way since the dreams had become nightmares. Strange. Giving herself a mental head shake, she put that information in the back of her mind for later.

"Okay, so what do you want to see?" There were a few good ones that had come out, but since Sam never had to pay for them she had seen most of them. He shrugged because thanks to Sam he had seen all the new ones before they had even hit the big screen. Just then she remembered this really strange commercial at three this morning. "There was this one commercial I saw for a movie that not even my family's name could get for free."

"Really? That's weird." She nodded in concurrence. It had been strangely absent from any list that she could find on the newest movies, but she figured that it wasn't even finished, but yet it showed up as being shown somewhere in west Amity at a theater that Sam had never heard of.

"Yeah, what's weirder than that is that it's only in one theater." Danny raised a brow in shock. "Strange, but I still want to see it." The halfa inquired as to what the story was about to which Sam said, "Not entirely sure, but it was a horror film." When he looked at her strangely she clarified that the commercial had been vague, but that the shots it had shown had been scary.

"So let's go then," the halfa said.

"Just give me a moment," the Goth stated as she headed to her closet for a change of clothing before closing herself up in the bathroom.


	2. Chapter 2

Less than thirty minutes found the pair flying over Amity toward the one theater showing their movie. Sam hadn't even thought of the name, but as they touched down they found that it was the only movie playing at the old looking theater and it didn't seem that they were the only one who had seen that commercial.

"Negaverse Rises?" That was a strange title. Sam nodded at the name. That had been the name of the one she had seen that morning, so walking up to the booth she inquired about two tickets. She was given two tickets, but when she went to pay the guy behind the counter shook his head.

"That was strange," she muttered as she pocketed her money, but shrugging the pair went into the large, dark theater. As they moved past the small crowd they found some people they recognized. "Shit," the Goth muttered as she moved to pass the people in front of them which Danny immediately recognized as Dash and Paulina, the pair talking quietly. He hadn't really talked to them in a while and in fact had thought the pair had moved further out of town.

"I thought they moved away?" he questioned. She nodded.

"They did, so why are they here now?" That was the true question, but deciding she didn't want to ruin her movie experience she moved past them with Danny in tow, the halfa throwing the other two a look before disappearing into the room where the movie was already beginning. Rushing to find a seat in the back the Goth sat down in the corner, thankful that she had managed to snag it while others moved past her toward the front. Danny chuckled as he sat down next to her only to find that someone was sitting on her other side. It was strange since most people loved to sit up front, but Sam was one seat down from said person and didn't seem to notice the strange looking guy to her right.

"Sure you want to sit here?" the halfa inquired to which Sam nodded, but her eyes never left the screen where a girl with long blond hair was running toward the screen, her baby blue eyes wide in terror as blood ran down her body. Danny sighed as he sat down, his eyes falling on the screen, but for some reason he couldn't get into the movie and several minutes later found himself falling asleep as the movie droned on. Sam on the other hand was so enthralled that she failed to realize her best friend had passed out next to her.

Over an hour later found her feeling drowsy as her eyelids began to droop, but it didn't really matter because the movie was almost over so, forcing her eyes to stay open became a battle as she felt her energy begin to fade until all she saw was black. As soon as she fell asleep the guy to her right stood up, his green eyes flashing as he leaned close to her, his face mere inches from hers before touching her head with his. Beginning to chant softly the room filled with the sounds of others chanting, everyone in the room glowing with a green light save for one halfa who hadn't watched the movie so when he awoke to find Sam looking at him without expression except for sleepiness he sat up.

"Did I miss it all?" he groaned. She nodded, but moved to pass him, not a word said as she went to exit the building. The halfa thought she was mad at him, but when he found her outside she was waiting for him, still no real expression on her face. "You okay?"

"Nothing, just feeling a little tired," she muttered as she waited for him to take her to the skies, her hand grasping his as they took to the skies, though the halfa was slightly concerned at her monotone. Shrugging it off for something to look into later he took her back to her house and within minutes found the small Goth crawling into bed and passing smooth out, her even breathing telling him that she was gone. Sighing he headed out, but at the same time he felt that something was off, something wasn't right with what he had obviously missed while out at the theater or had it been before that?

Shaking it off again he headed for home as Sam began to groan, her eyes flickering behind their lids as another nightmare took hold of her, but the Goth found unlike last time she couldn't escape it as she groaned again. As she lay there in a fit of sleep a shadow entered her room, his green eyes taking in her state with a frown. Walking to the edge of her bed he leaned out, his hand coming in contact with her head, his long fingers splayed over her pale skin as she broke out in a sweat.

Chanting like in the theater filled the room as the man closed his green orbs in concentration. It took minutes but finally Sam stopped moving, her breathing more shallow as the man removed his hand, his glowing green eyes opening again before he faded into the darkness.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

The next morning Sam awoke later than she had in awhile, but the Goth still felt tired. Despite the urgings of her body the raven haired beauty sat up and crawled out of bed, her eyes not fully open as she headed for the kitchen, the urge for an energy drink strong as she opened her fridge to pluck one out of the few she kept in the large refrigerator.

The Goth rarely used them, but today with as low as she felt, she knew she was going to need it. Guzzling it down she headed back to her room, the need to put her feelings on paper drawing her back to where her art supplies were. It was so strange, this feeling of sadness that came over her and for the life of her she couldn't pinpoint from where it was coming from so with a slight shrug she picked up her large drawing pad and began to sketch. Within minutes two forms began to fill the paper and as time wore on she found herself looking into her parents frowning faces.

"Why would I draw them?" She had given her dead parents very little thought since their death, her mind shutting them out after her heart had. They had little room for her in their own hearts and so she had learned to do the same, but for some reason she felt the need to look at them, to put her feelings for them on paper. They looked back at her as they always had... disappointed. They had been so disappointed in how she had behaved, always blaming Danny for the way she was. Sighing she felt a strange irritation in her eyes just seconds before a tear fell on her sketch blurring some of the pencil between her parents.

'Huh? Tears?' She hadn't even cried at their funeral. 'Must be that time.' The Goth got a little emotional around her time of the month, but she hardly ever cried. Tossing the picture on the floor she crawled back under the sheets, her dreams safer for her than reality.

A few days later Danny headed over to Sam's house to find out why he hadn't heard from her since their movie date. What he found when he got there was unbelievable. It was just after noon and the small woman was passed out in her bed, her legs hanging out from under the blankets and although it wasn't strange for her to pass out during the day as she hated the daylight for the most part but something bothered him about how she was laying there, still. Hell it seemed like she wasn't even breathing.

Rushing to her side he checked her pulse to find that although she was indeed still breathing that her pulse was low and her breathing shallow.

"Sam," he called softly, but when she didn't even stir he called louder and still she failed to respond. Was she really that tired? Deciding to shake her he stopped as his eyes fell on her open sketch book, the eyes of her parents falling on him as they had when the pair had come over to her home. Her parents had never failed in making him feel unwelcome in their house, but he had refused to be cowed and had continued to come over, more so at times just to aggravate them. It was interesting to see how she had drawn them with that exact expression. Then again they seemed to hold that look all the time so maybe that was how they looked at her.

Although he had been sad for her when they had died he had to admit he was quite happy they were gone because Sam had seemed to be a lot more relaxed with them gone, like a weight had been lifted from her shoulders. Turning back to the Goth he went back to trying to wake her up, but to no avail. Getting slightly worried he checked her for any devices like what they had gone through with Nocturne, the ghost that had wanted Amity to sleep forever in order to fuel his needs for power.

"Sam, you need to wake up," he whispered next to her ear, this time he got a reaction as her amethyst orbs cracked open, the emotions swirling in them blanked out in seconds. "You okay?" She nodded as she stretched and that was when Danny realized the small woman was barely wearing anything, if she was wearing something under the blankets. He found out as she threw back the covers to reveal what could only be underwear and a bra. "Shit." Turning from her he waited for her to get dressed, but all she did was sit up and stretched again.

"Why are you turning away?" she murmured. "Am I that ugly?" That brought a brighter red to his cheeks.

"No, but you're my friend and friends don't look at each other when- well, you know." Sam let out a dry chuckle as she reached out to grab a large shirt from the edge of her bed, her eyes falling on the clock beside her bed.

"Wow, noon? Didn't realize it was that late." Yawning she crawled out of bed, but Danny still avoided looking at her even when she told him she had put a shirt on. "Danny, I don't know why you're so shy. You've seen me in less."

"That was years ago," the halfa stated as he began to search her drawers for a pair of shorts, anything to cover her ass up. Finding a pair of black shorts he threw them over to her only to find the Goth standing inches behind him. "W-What are you doing?" he stuttered out. The raven haired woman leaned over and kissed his neck, her warm breath tickling his skin.

"Kissing you... Breathing on you..." she whispered, her voice fading out between each sentence. "Do you not like that?" He gulped, his body having already reacted to her advances, but he couldn't even utter a word before she stepped back. "Of course not since friends don't do that kind of crap." Walking away she disappeared into the hall. "Is there a reason you are here?" The halfa blinked in confusion because his Sam never acted like this. Following her while trying to calm his body down he confessed that he had been a little worried since the movie. "Why?"

"You just seemed so out of it and here you are sleeping late into the afternoon after I have been trying to call you for the last few days." She didn't stop as she headed for the kitchen to grab an energy drink as well as pull out a pack of smokes from her kitchen drawer. "And since when do you smoke?" Grabbing the pack before she could open it he glared at her. "You know that is a bad habit to start."

"Funny, since I have been smoking on and off since I was sixteen," she muttered as she reached out for her pack only to watch her best friend set it on fire with his ghost powers. "Whatever." Reaching back into the drawer she pulled out what looked like a strange stick. "I still have my vapors," she muttered as she pushed a button before taking an inhale. "If that is all that you came to do, you know, to berate me and check up on me I suggest you leave because the only people who did that are dead."

It was like a bomb had been dropped with those words. The pain hitting both, though Sam refused to be drawn back into that while standing before her best friend. Danny's eyes narrowed, but he turned and left, the Goth throwing the closed energy drink through the kitchen window moments later. The shatter echoed in the room even as she leaned back against the cold refrigerator, her mind going back to what she had said and all she could feel was sadness and anger, two emotions that didn't belong together.


	3. Chapter 3

Later that evening a shadow waited outside of Sam's window, a pair of green eyes watching with interest at one particular window as a shadow moved around by the window. He disappeared and moments later stood in the shadows of the Goth woman's room.

"Hello?" the shadow close to the window asked as the lights came on to reveal Sam standing next to her closed window, the Goth in full black apparel. She wore a pair of tight black spandex pants with a form fitting long sleeved black shirt, her hair pulled up in a ponytail. She had black eyeliner on as well as black lipstick, but the shadow didn't say a word as the Goth shifted to move something on the other side of her bed next to the wall.

She finally shoved it where she wanted it before heading for the door. Looking in the room she failed to see the pair of green eyes following her moves before disappearing. The Goth moved silently down the stairs she kept looking around her at the shadows, the feeling of being watched making her heart beat faster. She felt like she wasn't alone in her own home, the feeling of sadness hanging in the air around her and she couldn't take it anymore. She needed release and there was one place she could find that so leaving the house she headed down the street where one set of lights still lit up the moonless night.

The name glittered in the night, the rest of the buildings dark around it. Darkness Embodied. It was a strange name and the place was only open at night, but she had been coming here for several years, long before her parents had died and long before Danny had become the Phantom. It was her escape after the Skulk and Lurk had been torn down. It was where she could be herself without question if she was depressed even though right now she wasn't sure if she was or not.

Taking a seat in the back she watched the others around her, people who were like her in so many ways and yet each of them were different. Another person finished a poem, the sound of silence the tell that everyone had liked it. As soon as it was done she stood as others watched her. Stepping to the stage she cleared her throat and began, unaware that someone had followed her.

"The pain. The denial of it all, the withdrawal from it all.

The wish, the sadness, the confession without release.

The fear, the guilt, bile that rises in my throat.

The tears that fall from my eyes; eyes that have seen it all.

The misery of a child. The satisfaction of the devil.

Nightmares of it still. The wish to spill my blood. To slow it down.

To punish myself. To stop the pain. To empty my blood onto the ground.

To die. Away from you, to save you. To protect you from me and me from you.

I feel your pain along with mine. Going down in a drain. Away forever."

Silence greeted her as she stepped down from the stage, her heart beating quickly. It had come to her in those days after the movies. The nightmares that had been haunting her nights and entering her days. The knowledge that she had endured all that her parents had thrown at her, but had failed to see that they were having problems of their own. They had been fighting for a long time and she had never seen it from her own lack of caring. Was she really like them? Was she going to suffer the same fate?

'It wasn't really a hit and run, was it?' She had started having those nightmares after their death, but they had been little things. Smells and blackened visions of their death. She could hear those screams of death as tires had squealed, but it had all been something else that night. It had been her own fault as well as theirs. She had been in the car that night, but she had lived while they had died, their last breaths ones so full of hate for each other and for her.

Flashback

She could feel the cut on her head, the glass that lay around her glittering in the light from the car that had hit them, the beams landing on her as she blinked to focus.

"See, you can't even drink and drive for fucks sake!" came the sound of her mother, the tone a new one to the Goth. Just seconds ago they had been arguing, but in that mild tone that her mother used when her daughter failed to live up to what Pamela thought a Manson girl should be like. Sam didn't know what was happening before her, her parents had never argued between themselves, only with her.

"As if you could do better!" Thurston screamed. "No. You only drink and fuck!" A gasp was heard from her mother.

"It's because you're fucking sterile you mother fucker!" The Goth watched in shock as the lights from the other car grew smaller before a squeal of tires was heard from her left. Sam had been the only one to buckle up, the dress she was wearing stained with blood as more trickled down her face and onto the puddle on her right leg.

"What the hell is going on?!" the Goth questioned. They had just come from a gala that the heiress had been forced to go to because as the only child she would inherit everything. She hated those things and planned to end that particular ritual when she took over. Her mother hadn't looked at her, not that the older Manson female could because she had snapped her neck without realizing it and was still alive only because she hadn't moved her head.

"Shut up, Sam!" the woman barked, her hate filling her voice. "You should know that we hate how you are. You are not my child, not at all!" Sam was thrown back by that, but she knew she was her mother's child since she had seen the disgusting video of her birth.

"No, she is your child, bitch! She's not my child! Your mother fucked another guy!" he spit out, his eyes eyeing her from the rear view mirror as blood trickled down from his mouth. "Your mother is a whore!"

"Dad?!" He slammed his hand on the wheel as the sound of sirens filled the air, their lights coming around the corner. He cursed at her and told her that she couldn't call him father!

"Hell, your own father is dead!"

"Because you killed him!" So many things coming out at once and then the next piece of news came as a shock. "I never loved you anyway and I know about your little tart that you have been fucking for the last several years!" As the sirens died around the Goth she felt the world began to fade, the sounds of her parent's fighting fading as the firefighter stopped at their window. She could see his mouth moving, but there was no sound as he shook his head at the body of her father.

She found herself looking into the face of the firefighter as he looked in her window before turning to motion to someone, but Sam could feel the heaviness sinking in, the pain in her head coming out of nowhere as she opened her mouth to speak. Her door was pried open and the dark haired male was looking her over with obvious concern. Pulling her gently from the wreckage she stopped him, her hand on his upper arm as she turned to look at her parents. She could tell he didn't want her to look, but even though the raven haired heiress couldn't say a word she still wanted to see them.

She looked at them and her blood grew cold. Even as they lay there obviously dead and drunk to boot the pair wanted the other to know of their hate that had obviously been boiling in their hearts for a long time. She didn't know what to say as she looked at her mother, her neck bulging out because of the break in her neck bones while her father had a chunk of glass in his chest, too close to his heart for them to remove, his blood dripping down his chin like a mini waterfall now. They were still fighting though Sam couldn't hear them now as the sound of rushing water entered her ears now. Mouthing something she turned from them toward the awaiting ambulance, her long purple dress spotted with blood as she clung to the man who had saved her from the wreckage.

End of Flashback

"Sam, are you okay?" a voice to her right inquired. She turned toward the male voice only to come face to face with a man she had never met before, his green eyes looking at her intently, concern in the green depths. She nodded, though she really didn't feel okay. She felt like she was drowning in a sea of misery, hate and anger. All those emotions seemed to overwhelm her and for some reason she couldn't figure it out. She had never really felt only those feelings and it was pissing her off.

"Who are you?" she questioned. "And how do you know me?"

"I was here when you first started coming here and every time you always have such great poems and songs, but tonight you took the cake with that depressing piece. Is everything alright or do you feel suicidal?" Sam blinked in confusion.

'Am I? Do I want to kill myself?' She couldn't honestly answer that question at that moment because she felt so bad for how she had thought of her parents and yet at the same time she knew she could never kill herself. "I don't know." She couldn't say why she was talking to this man, why she was telling him stuff she couldn't even tell Danny, but she felt compelled to be honest. "I don't feel that urge and at the same time I feel like I should be dead."

"Guilt. That is understandable in most cases," he said before holding out his hand. "My name is Thaed. I have wanted to meet you for a while now, but you always are in such a daze and never seem to see me, but tonight that daze is gone."

"I just feel like most of my emotions have passed on, like I can only feel certain ones," the Gothic woman muttered. "Something that has never plagued me, but I feel all the anger and sadness that seems to have escaped me all this time."

"Maybe it's more like you have refused to feel those stronger feelings." She nodded. "One moment. It's my turn. Will you wait for me?" Sam nodded though she knew it was getting pretty late. "Good." Heading for the stage Thaed began his poem.

"Of all that one could feel. Love is an emotion that leads to despair.

Lust is all that is felt in this world. A lust for power. A lust for death.

A lust for something that is owned by another. Emotions are just...

Worthless. That is the feeling that enters my mind because there is no

heart that beats in this chest. It died long ago. Ice is all that remains.

The chill running through my veins. Forever I wait for that which runs."

Exiting the stage he stopped before Sam, who was looking rather worn. He reached out for her hand and she gave it to him, her amethyst orbs meeting his. "Come with me." Nodding she stood and followed him outside. Before they could take more than two steps a familiar form dropped before them, the earth shaking with the impact as Skulker flew out of the hole and took to the sky. Sam blinked, her mind going back to a time she would have helped take down the ghost. She would have if Danny had called for her, but he hadn't this time. It was another smack to her wounded heart.

"Let's go," she muttered as she dragged him away from the crater as Danny flew past to get Skulker who was now fleeing. It didn't take long for the halfa to take him down before Danny turned to see the couple walking away. He didn't recognize them, but for some reason he felt a tug on his heart strings. Shaking it off he turned to leave when he heard the next words from the couple walking away.

"Are you seeing anyone, Sam?"


	4. Chapter 4

Danny couldn't believe what he was hearing! Sam had been staying in doors and yet here she was, but before he could take a step toward her another figure stopped him, the green eyes familiar as he had seen them in the mirror millions of times.

"Dan!" he hiss, his voice drawing the attention of the couple down below, but before either could see them Dan grasped Danny and disappeared. The man standing next to Sam narrowed his eyes as he looked at the space the two males had been hovering. Sam began to walk away because for some reason she felt no attachment. She felt like a doll walking, nothing bothering her or keeping her attention. That got Thtaed's attention quick enough that he rushed to join her all the while his eyes watching that spot. As soon as they were far enough Dan made the pair reappear.

"I know that you don't like me and believe when I say the feeling is mutual, but I couldn't stand by and let Sam be taken down like this, not when I let her die that first time." Danny cocked a brow at his other half. That was a strange thing for him to say since he hadn't been against killing her when the trio had tried to find out why all the ghosts were trying to kill him. "And I am not going to explain myself any further, but I am going to give you my warning right now. Either step back or help, but I wouldn't hesitate to contain you in a fucking thermos!" With that the other ghost headed off in the direction of Sam's house.

For a minute Danny hovered there, not sure what was going on and not sure if what was going on was a good thing or not, but in the end he followed because all that mattered was that Sam was safe.

A few moments later found the pair of halfas hovering on the edge of town where Sam stood with Thaed, their backs to the ghost men. Sam wasn't holding his hand, nor were the couple really touching, but the conversation was flowing.

"So, you've only dated a few guys and none of them were what you wanted?" Sam nodded, her eyes looking out at the road that stretched beyond them, the road to leave Amity. "Sad, are you looking for Mr. Right?"

"I was, but I know there is no such thing, not for me anyway." Danny looked to Dan in confusion because he had expected them to rush at the guy accompanying Sam, but no, the other ghost was just staring, his green eyes glowing in the early morning darkness. "No one has really understood me, but not because they don't want to but because they never can. I am just too messed up to understand."

"Is that what the poem was about?"

'Poem?' Both halfas wondered at the same time. Danny could remember the old bookstore that the Goth had gone to on a number of occasions and though it had been shut down long ago, Danny could remember the place and how it had looked on the inside, Danny only having gone there once when he had seen Sam sneaking out of her house one night. He had gone and listened to the others talk, sing, or rant, but he had never seen her step on stage.

"Yeah, that's part of it, but the other half has to do with a close, well, not as close as we were before, but he's my only real friend." She looked down at her feet now, a gust of wind blowing her hair forward.

"You sound depressed, Sam. Do you want to kill yourself?" She shook her head at the repeated question. "You sound like you've had a terrible life. One friend, horrible parents, and not a mate in sight." The Goth sighed. "Loneliness is a horrible feeling, but we all feel it until you become like myself and learn to live without a heart." She looked to him in confusion.

"Like your poem?" He shook his head. "You have no heart?" He nodded and taking her hand placed it on his chest, her fingers curling at the human contact before relaxing to feel for his heartbeat. No such thing happened. Not a twitch and then Sam realized that his chest was ice cold. "How?" He smirked at her.

"I'm different, like you, but in an destiny I inherited from my parents." She raised a brow at the same time the halfas behind her did. "I told you my name, but as I can not utter it until my partner says it first I can not tell you who I am." He touched her hand, his fingers like ice. "I came for you because you, like so many, are lonely and are not ready to take that step."

"What step?" He shook his head as he removed her hand. "What is the step after loneliness?" Shaking his head he turned with her hand still in his, both of them shocked to find the pair of halfas glaring at them. "Danny?" Then her eyes fell on Dan, her amethyst orbs growing wide in shock, but no fear. "Dan?" She was so confused and yet that was all she could utter, her fear gone. Anger was all she felt in that spit second. "What the fuck do you think you are doing?!" She looked to Danny, her finger coming out to poke him in the chest. "Are you fucking stupid?! We had this conversation years ago about spying on me and then to top that off you are with the one that wanted to kill you!"

"Now, listen Sam, it's not like that." Danny splayed his hands out in defense as Dan reached out, his hands closing around that hand that held Sam's.

"Release her." The man smirked and shook his head. "Let her go. This is not one that you want to fuck with." Thaed shook his head as he yanked her back toward him, his eyes flashing black, the white in his eyes completely gone. Sam could feel the chill from both men and in that instant it hit her. Dan's hand was removed with the cold male's wrist.

"Death." The man at her side nodded as he turned to her. "Death. You're Death?"

"Step away from her!" Dan yelled as the pair of halfas tried to step between the couple. "She isn't ready!" Sam looked into his eyes, her own still a bright amethyst. He looked to Dan and Danny.

"Not yet, but Sam is almost ready to move on." Around them the sky began to lighten, the stars glittering in their last moments of night. "She called me. Sam was calling out for release and so I came." Looking back at the Goth standing before him in confusion. "You needed someone to help you through all the angst that is your life. The love that you felt rejected, the parents that couldn't see past your exterior and your friend that couldn't see you as a person."

"That's not true!" Danny cried out, Dan staying silent next to him. The halfa looked to the dark half of himself and commanded him to help, but Dan just stared, his mind going back to the times that he had walked past Sam onto a crush that he had had for forever. "I care about her as a person!" Sam blinked now, her mind also going back to those times, but unlike how Dan was seeing them Sam was seeing them in a new light.

"The popular people were always what Danny wanted, even when they crushed him that was all he wanted." She looked to the halfas to her right. "Don't you remember ignoring us when Tucker and I wanted to hang? The times that you left us to clean up after you. You never saw us as anything but sidekicks that had no life. You looked right at me as the building exploded, your green eyes the last ones I saw," she said as she looked to Dan. "You didn't care."

"That's not true!" Dan stated, his green eyes glowing. "I tried to get there in time, but my powers weren't enough." She shook her head. "I loved you and you were in the wrong place at the wrong time. You should have been home when that happened! No one should have been there!"

"But I was because I was concerned about you and that's when it happened. I died." Danny watched the emotions that flitted across the older halfa's face. "No one cared enough to save us...me." She could see that moment in the car again, her hands beginning to shake. "No one cared. Obligation. That is what I am." She looked to Death. "I don't want to die. I want to go." Making him release her she turned away from him and headed back, past the two white haired male and back toward her house.

"Yes!" Danny said as he smirked at the male who referred to himself as Death. "She doesn't want to die." Death's smirk didn't fade as he watched the Goth walk away. Danny blinked as he realized that Death didn't look upset. Dan was also looking to the cold male. "Why aren't you upset."

"You will see." With that he was gone in a flash of smoke, the black and blue element disappearing in a gust of wind. "That's not good," Dan stated as he looked to the lightened skies over them. "He's not done yet and we need to find out how long Sam has been under his spell." Turning the way that Sam had gone he took to the skies, Danny following him quickly.


	5. Chapter 5

They landed outside Sam's house, her curtain closed as it was every morning. Dan sat against a tree, his body going invisible making Danny realize he could be seen so he followed suit in changing his form to being invisible. He didn't understand what they were doing her since Sam hadn't seemed to want to talk to either of them, but then Dan asked a question, one that Danny wasn't sure if he could give an answer to.

"How long has she been like this?" When the younger halfa failed to answer Dan clarified it. "Emotionless?"

"Well, since the movies, but what does that have to do with this?" Dan shook his head as he asked the halfa another question. "I don't know. She seems more withdrawn than I have seen her in a few years."

"Well, that might be part of why he thinks she called him. She has been picked by him, but it can't just be her because when he comes he takes more than one soul back. He picks groups. Who did you see at the theater?" Danny listed a few people, ones who had seemed like nothing to him, but when Dan heard those names something seemed to hit him as he noticed a connection. "Those are the people who picked on you, the ones that singled out Sam and Tucker as well when it came to tormenting people."

"Paulina never did anything to them." Dan's gaze narrowed. "What? They had their fights but she never did anything to them."

"You never saw the whole picture the way I did," he stated as he looked toward the house that housed the woman who had stood by his side for more years than she should have. She had taken a lot and in the end he wasn't able to save her. It had truly been his fault, but that had been a human error that should not have killed his close friends and certainly not his family. "Paulina made it a habit to bother and put Sam down. If Paulina hadn't shown up when she did then Sam would have been the one that was possessed by Kitty that one year at the park, but instead you dated a Kitty possessed Paulina. Funny how that would have worked out because if Sam had been the one taken over then what would have happened? The simple fact is that since living in the Clock Tower with that idiot Clockwork I have seen and heard things about Paulina and her fun games that she plays with Sam."

"I didn't know." Dan shook his head as he turned to look at Danny.

"Neither did I, but that's just it. We failed to see it because of our infatuation with Paulina. We were teenage boys and we thought more with our dick than our heads. Not an excuse, mind you, but still that's how it goes." Standing up now he walked across the street with Danny in tow, the pair having no idea what they were going to do. "We need to find out more." Flying up to the window, still invisible, Dan and Danny peeked in to find the Goth still passed out, her limbs everywhere as she rolled over.

"She looks like she's having a nightmare." Dan threw Danny a 'no duh' look before returning his gaze back to the rolling female. The older halfa inquired if anything had happened in the last few months that would turn the Goth's normal attitude array and Danny instantly said, "Her parents died."

"She hated her parents." It was a fact.

"That's the only thing." Then it hit Danny that Sam had been stressed before that, but after that it seemed like she had been a little more tired when he called her or not in the mood for anything that they used to do. "Well, I remember that after that she was hospitalized since she was in the wreak with them. She was the only one to survive, but she didn't tell anyone. She just stopped talking to us for a while. I found out from my parents that she had been in the back, the one time she had let them drive her to a banquet she had to attend with them."

"Really? That could be a spark if we find out more in regards to that accident." Turning from the window Dan headed off in the direction of Fenton Works. This time Danny stayed behind, his gaze locked on Sam as she tossed and turned. "Come on idiot!" Blinking the halfa shot the other male a look before following him.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Sam awoke with a groan, her body aching in so many places, but what bothered her the most was the fact she had met Death and he was after her. Sitting up she looked around, the feeling of being watched gone now, but knowing that he had been in her room had unnerved her, leaving her with a feeling of unease. Crawling toward the edge of the bed Sam found herself looking into the dead eyes of her parents and with a yowl she fell forward, her head hitting the space where their heads met. With a groan Sam forced herself back onto her bed, but when she looked down at the picture it looked odd.

There in the middle was a splash of blood that seemed to get bigger with every splash. Touching her head Sam found more blood, but even with the spot covered, the blood on her parents picture spread out. Jumping off the bed the Goth rushed to the bathroom where a rather large spot of blood began to leak down her face. The Goth wasn't afraid of blood, but for some reason this set her off as she scrambled to stem the flow, her mind going back to that day in the car again and the blood that she had found on her clothes. The blood that had been her own, but every time she had looked at it she had imaged her dying parents.

"Sam?" came a familiar voice, one that Sam didn't want to talk to at that moment. Turning to the door she opened her mouth to say it only to come face to face with herself from that day. "What are you doing?" Sam dropped the rag she had been using to stop the flow as she took a step back. The woman before her looked happy. "You need to let it go. The pain, the guilt, the regret. You need to admit to all of it and let it go."

"I don't know what the hell you're talking about!" She reached for something to protect herself, but found nothing within her grasp. "Leave me the fuck alone!"

"I can't because I am all that you deny. I was there when your parents died and all they could think of was the hate they felt. I was there when you realized you liked Danny more than you thought you should. I was there when the rape happened. I was there through all of it and I will always be there, but you always force me into the back refusing to listen to me. I don't want to die. I want to be where I should be." The Goth couldn't understand where this was coming from! "Don't let me die."

"I don't know what you're talking about! I am not going to die!"

"But you will. There is little in the way of time." With that the woman was gone, her form disappearing like dust in the wind leaving Sam there alone, her eyes watering as she tried to crush the fear, but there were no other emotions to replace that except for anger and depression. What had happened to her?! Rushing out of the room she ran back to her room to grab some clothing before heading out. She needed out of the house and fast.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Danny stood before his parents, their weapons drawn as they looked at the ghost behind their son. Dan just looked rather bored at this attempt and waited for Danny as he calmed his parents down, explaining who Dan was and ensuring that he wasn't here to do any harm.

"What do you need, son?" Jack inquired while watching the older, other dimension Danny looked around. Maddie watched her son's other half walk around, the look on his face one of interest even as he tried to play it off. When Dan was the one to answer the older male almost responded in anger, but Danny pulled him back with a reiteration of Dan's response. "The car wreak? Well, she was in it and she was of course the only one to survive, but it seems that something big happened in that accident. The fireman who pulled her out came to us as we were the people listed on her emergency contacts."

"What happened?"

"Seems her parents had been arguing again and in the midst of it had run into traffic as a man was running from the police for being under the influence," Jack stated.

"Sad to say that if they hadn't been arguing then it wouldn't have happened, but that wasn't the brute of it. The man that pulled her out remembered them fussing so violently, talking about how they hated each other and something else as they bled out. They refused to stop even as the officer tried to calm them down. They died in that car."

"Shit."

"The sad fact is I think Sam heard something in that argument because the night afterward I went to check on her to hear her screaming in her sleep." She shook her head. "I can't imagine what it was like for her living with them and then watching them die like that. They had all anyone could wish for and to die with such hate is unthinkable." Danny and Dan turned to each other, the same thought going through their minds. Telling his parents goodbye the halfas rushed back toward Sam's house only to run into Death.


	6. Chapter 6

Sam sat looking out over the town, the branch holding her having grown in such a way that it resembled a bench. It curved to the side allowing a spot for two people to look out on the town. Sighing she leaned against the trunk, her depression seeming to grow worse with every second that passed. Things that had made her happy in the past not even bringing a smile to her lips. Sitting alone she realized that she was alone in so many ways. The things that Death had mentioned echoing in her mind.

The rape wasn't my fault, I know that. She hadn't been in a good place that time, so fucked up that she had failed to notice the man to her right following her as she stepped out into the darkness. The darkness had always been her friend and that night it had betrayed her, covering for the man that slammed her against the brick wall of the Skulk and Lurk. He had taken her at the age of eighteen, a night she would never forget, but she had moved on. She had remembered it and had never found pleasure in touch from that night on. She had flinched from Danny more times than she could count, but she didn't think the halfa knew that was why.

A story had run in the paper about the rape, but no names had been given, but Sam could remember his voice, the feel of him on her as he snatched at her black skirt. Danny had always warned me about going out alone. He had always warned me of the dangers and I didn't listen. Paid the price for that, but amazingly she hadn't lost faith in the darkness and had gone back out, but now the raven haired female was more careful. She was okay with that incident because she had learned from it and although she was sure none of her relationships with the male gender would ever be the same she was fine. Danny was the only one she had been able to be okay with after that, while other men had made her wary.

Falling for a friend. That one she had gotten over. Sure, she had thought she loved the halfa as more, but soon had given up and moved on, especially after that night. She couldn't see the halfa as wanting more to do with her if he had found out. Another one bites the dust.

The last one was her parents' crash. That one wasn't that bad, right? Closing her eyes Sam felt her world tilt.

~Dream~

With a groan she awoke, her amethyst eyes taking in the scene before her, the crowds dressed like they were from the past. Swirling gowns and tuxedo attired men danced before her. One male stepped toward her and she knew him from before.

"Hello, Elliot." He smiled at her and for some reason Sam elected to forget what he had done to get her because he had cared to even try. "Some party." The male before her smiled and Sam felt her heart skip a beat. It was those looks of his, so much like the one she had thought she was over, but one look at the guy who could be him and Sam found she was dancing moments later. It was so nice to be held because the Goth foresaw herself being alone forever.

"Why do you like him?" It was a question that shocked the Goth and yet she feared it in that instant. When she didn't respond the male holding her smirked broader. "Sam, you like Danny and yet he can't see you for a woman, no, he couldn't then either."

"It doesn't matter what Danny can or can't see because I don't like him like that." Elliot chuckled now as he leaned close to her and Sam felt panic well up in her chest. He was too close now, his breath hitting her face and Sam could feel fear take over as she shoved him back before taking off. Her parents had been outside when she had rushed past them like the dogs from Hell were after her. They had been so upset and embarrassed when they had seen what she had done. Sam had locked herself in the car for almost an hour before her parents even got in the car.

When they had gotten in it had been like most times as her mother berated her, the tone of irritation on the edge as it was every time Sam did something to put the limelight on them. They didn't like being in the limelight when it came to her. They would just as soon forget she was their child. Sam had known that but at the same time she was sure they cared even when they did something stupid like put a restraining order on Danny or set her up with one of their good friends' children. As they pulled out something changed...

Her father told her mother to shut up and be real. Her parents had never told each other to shut up and then it was her mother who responded.

"Tell her that she's the reason you had to marry me?! Is that it? Fuck off!" Sam had fallen back in her seat.

"Mom! Dad!" she cried out. "What the fuck is wrong with you?" Her mother had turned to her as Thurston made another turn. Sirens were heard, but her father failed to hear it as he spoke up.

"You. That's what's wrong. You." Sam opened her mouth in shock. "You are a pis-"

CRASH!

Sam felt the world shake and shudder, but all she could see was her father and mother be thrown around like rag dolls as she fell forward and then back as her seatbelt locked. She could only think one thing at that moment...No! But as the car stopped moving her parents began again. It was almost as if they couldn't see the wreckage.

"See, you can't even drink and drive for fucks sake!" came the sound of her mother, the tone a new one to the Goth.

"As if you could do better!" Thurston screamed. "No. You only drink and fuck!" A gasp was heard from her mother.

"It's because you're fucking sterile you mother fucker!" The Goth watched in shock as the lights from the other car grew smaller before a squeal of tires was heard from her left. Sam had been the only one to buckle up, the dress she was wearing stained with blood as more trickled down her face and onto the puddle on her right leg. She opened her mouth to scream...

~Dream~

Sam shot forward, her eyes opening as the ground came rushing at her, but before she had even gotten close to ground she found herself looking into black. Looking up she found herself looking into Danny's green eyes.

"You okay?" he questioned as he set her down. Behind him Dan appeared, his own green eyes looking into hers and she could see her death from the other dimension. It was like she had lived it even though she hadn't even been there. Nodding she looked back to Danny who had asked the question. "Sam, I didn't see things that I should have, but I never meant to hurt you."

"I know Danny, I understand that you are like most men and think with the wrong head." Dan nearly choked on her words. He had known her only as a teen so he wouldn't have known her to use foul language. "I forgave you a long time ago, not that I could hold a grudge against you no matter what." She sat down on the grass as felt her eyes water.

"Sam, can't you trust me?" Danny questioned as he crouched down to her and Sam looked at him, her amethyst gaze almost white now as she looked to him and Dan hissed about the veil of death. Sam was close to the edge. She knew she trusted him, but she was so afraid because he had offered to help her before and then she had lost him again.

"I don't know," she said honestly. "I want to, but you've done it wrong before, this helping thing." He flinched. Yeah, he had failed in helping before, but this time he would do it right.

"Just give something, anything that you need to talk about. Something that makes you sad or depressed, angry even... Sam, just give me what makes you hurt." The Goth looked skeptical, her eyes moving toward the other Danny, his green eyes filled with something, something Sam couldn't tell from where she sat, though it looked like worry.

"The rape." Danny balked, sure he hadn't heard about this. His eyes flashed in warning now and Sam wondered as she had seen them do that before, but Danny blinked and his eyes reverted. De-transforming he sat before her, Dan still choosing to stand behind the younger halfa. "I know who did it, but at the time I couldn't place him because he left after we met him." She looked away for a moment. "I never wanted you to know because I was ashamed for what had happened. My parents told me that it was my fault for being out so late and I know you had told me not to so I felt like if you found out about it you would be upset."

"I am, but not at you. Yeah, it could be a moment to say I told you so, but I think you understand why I warned you all the time and you knew that if you asked me to go that I would have gone with you no matter how late." She turned to him, her eyes disbelieving. "Sam, if you had asked me to walk you to the ends of the Earth I would have." The Goth couldn't believe what she was hearing.

"Danny, I don't think you meant it like that," she stated as she forced herself to her feet, but as Danny looked into her gaze he could see that she did as some of her original eye coloring peeked through the white. "The person who did it, I saw him again, the night my parents died." Danny's gaze narrowed. "It was Elliot."

"What?! That little scaredy cat?!"

"Yeah, but he was drunk and... so was I. I went outside to head home, though I knew I should have just called a cab. I stumbled a bit and he came out of nowhere..." She gulped. "He shoved me against the wall and I couldn't see straight as my head began to pound. The alcohol numbed the pain at that moment, but I was told later I was lucky because my skull was fine, not a mark. They did a check of my body and there were finger marks and other... markings on me. They found skin under my nails from my attacker, but they never could identify the person whose face it came from. It was male. My parents were more pissed than worried."

"I'm gonna kill him!"

"Too late," was all she said as she looked past them, past Dan at the clouds above them. She let out a dry chuckle. "He was the car that hit us."


	7. Chapter 7

Later that evening Sam sat in her room, her head resting against her pillow as Dan stood off to her left in the darkness. Danny had gone home to do some research, his distrust of the darker side of him put on hold for the moment so he could ensure Sam's survival. She turned her head slightly to Dan, his green eyes watching her with such intensity that it made her shudder, a feeling of fear and anger mingling in her heart.

"I can see beyond those shutters," came Dan's dark tone. At her blank stare he let out a sigh. She really was just the darker emotions, her lack of normal emotions making her a dark person. "You're afraid of me because of what I attempted to do and yet on the other side of the same coin you are angry at me for the same thing, right?"

"No," came her surprising response. "I fear you because you tried to kill us, that part is true, but no, I am not angry for the same reason. Anger does very little good when you're looking Death in the face, but anger at someone who once looked you in the eyes and told you that they would protect and they attempt to kill you." She looked away, her eyes shutting. "What's worse is trying to kill your human half because you think he makes you weak with emotions."

"You don't know what it was like after that stupid accident!" She scoffed.

"No, I don't, but how do you think killing the rational side of you makes that better. Obsession is still an emotion, not one that rationalizes whether destroying the city you once vowed to protect is right or the fact that you tried to destroy our town to ensure that future was the answer." She turned toward him to find the dark halfa closer, actually he was right next to her bed, but she found there was no fear at this moment. She couldn't feel that emotion as she felt a chill in her heart.

"Obsession? I have no obsession!" She chuckled now.

"Your obsession was to destroy the town and kill everyone. Why?" That brought a true look of confusion to his face. "Why kill the people that were innocent of wrong?" He growled as he closed his eyes, images from that day taking root in his vision. "Were those people involved in some diabolical scheme?" Then she remembered that he not only had he tormented the humans, but the Ghost Zone had suffered. "What about the ghosts?"

"They were all responsible for it!" the older halfa screamed in anger. "All of them had a hand in it and they all deserved to die for it!" He disappeared and before Sam could react he was on top of her, his green eyes flashing like Danny's did when he was pissed off, seriously pissed off.

As long as you love me

"You were in the wrong place at the wrong time and it was my fault that you were with me that night, but they should have remembered what that kid had said at the CAT assembly! That stupid kid who worked at the Nasty Burger warned us without realizing it!" He leaned close to Sam, the chill from his body filling her own with more chill as she looked deep into those eye that belonged to the one she had crushed on so long ago. "If they had done something after the Nasty Burger was trashed then you would have still been alive."

As long as you love me

It hit her then like a smack in the face as the older halfa looked at her in dismay. He felt guilty, but he also felt another emotion.

"Dan, did you like me?" she questioned feeling like a teenager again, the angst of feeling feelings for a guy that couldn't see you you as more than one of the guys, filling her petite form again. He blinked at the question, the one that he had had an eternity to dwell over. For a guy who had been emotionless for over ten long years he still found that one question taunting him, calling him, forcing him to release the anger that came from that question.

"Yes, I did like you, so much more than a friend should," he said softly as he moved to lean back from her. "One of the many things I never got to tell you in my timeline. I watched you die, watched that blast from just feet away." He looked toward the window as he sat down on his ass, Sam sitting up to look at him.

As long as you love me

"I can't believe you felt that way," she stated. "You acted like I didn't exist half the time I was around." He looked ashamed for a moment. "Is that guilt?" Then she remembered what she had told the two men in her life. She had told them on so many occasions that she didn't have much interest in all the things females had interest in. She hated how women wore scant clothing and makeup and while she demeaned those things she herself wore clothing that exposed her creamy skin and wore some makeup. "I guess I wasn't all that much to look at, not that I was looking for a relationship when we were teens."

"No, I was clueless as well, was in a bit of denial until you were gone. It was a real wake up call, but I don't have my Sam to tell my feelings to because I waited too late." Then it was like he realized who he was talking to and the halfa moved as far from her just seconds before Danny appeared, the younger halfa looking between the pair in confusion.

"What's going on?" Danny inquired and Sam shook her head as she turned from the two men, her amethyst eyes reflection more of their original color than before as something filled her heart. "Sam?" When she shook her head again he looked to Dan. "What the hell, Dan?"

"It's not him," Sam clarified. "I was just talking to the dark side of you and realized a few things that I didn't see in the past." She looked to him now, her eyes shuttered again. "I was someone that I was proud of, but at the same time I held too much in that I should have put out there." She looked to Dan now. "Some things were never said before and regrets are something that you live with for the rest of your life, but life goes on and the best thing you can do is remember the good times."

We're under pressure

Now Danny was really confused, but when he looked between the pair he could tell that he had definitely missed something. She smiled at Dan and then at Danny as the emotion that had touched her heart moments ago filled her heart with another emotion.

"Danny, when this is all over we need to talk." He nodded and began to tell them about what he learned from the computer as he pulled up the site on her computer. As the pair listens to the halfa talk Sam leaned over and grabbed the darker halfa's hand, her touch reassuring before she released it again.

"Death needs to collect a certain amount of souls and when he doesn't reach that quota he comes to Earth to collect the sad and lonely souls, ones who think they don't deserve to live. When he finds them he steals their good emotions, the ones that bind them to someone or something that keeps them on Earth." He clicks on a few images for them to see what others had lived through, people who had found those things and made it back to where they were happy again. The images of people who had been possessed was very minimal, but in the few images you could see several similarities.

Seven billion people in the world trying to fit in

"So he preys on their insecurities, but how did he get to Sam and who else is infected?" Danny shook his head. "So even though we have all this information we are still at square one?" The older halfa let out a frustrated breath. "What about that movie you said the pair of you went to see?"

"What about it?" Sam questioned. "I really don't remember much about it."

"It must have been the place they used as a cover, but how did he get people, selective people to come there." Danny turned to Dan, one idea of how.

"A commercial." Dan blinked. "Sam told me she saw a commercial for the movie late at night, one I had never seen. She invited me to come, but I wasn't taken over." The Goth in question looked thoughtful. If that was the case then Danny hadn't been selected and she had brought him inadvertently. She voiced this idea to the pair of halfas and both agreed that it seemed the case. "Only ones that fit his profile are brought in to drain."

"Now what do we do?" Sam queried.

Keep it together

"We go to that theater and check it out." Sam sighed. So Mystery Incorporated!


	8. Chapter 8

"So, what do we look for?" the Goth inquired moments later as she clung to Danny, her arms wrapped around his neck as they headed out toward their destination. The halfa shrugged, but Dan spoke up. He pointed out that anything that look out of place was a clue as to what had happened and if they would be coming back there. As they set down, all three jaws dropped. The building that had been standing just weeks ago was a ruin with no roof and the walls crumbling. "That's bad." She turned to them, her eyes questioning. "How do we explain that?"

"We don't," Dan stated as he walked past them toward the ruined building. "Are you sure this was the place?" Both ghost fighters nodded in agreement. They were sure that this had been the place, the only theater that had played that movie. "Well, now you need to do some research in regards to this particular place and that movie that you saw on the commercial." Sam's eyes narrowed suddenly, her mood switching like a breeze changing directions.

Smile on your face even though your heart is frowning

"Me? Did you just tell me what to do?" Both halfas looked at the now pissed off woman, her amethyst gaze fading to white a little. The air seemed to grow thicker around the Goth, but the two males couldn't see it, not really. "I am not your fucking slave!" She stomped her foot as her hands fell on her hips. Danny took a step toward her, her gaze falling on her best friend but not really seeing him as Danny. "Back off motherfucker!" she hissed as she took a step away from the pair.

"Sam, no one was telling you what to do!" Sam blinked at her name, the fog around her lifting.

"What the hell just happened?" she muttered as she held her now aching head. Danny looked back at Dan, both of them just as confused at her as to what they had just witnessed. "What are we doing here?" Now what was going on? Sam had been fine one minute, the next angry as hell and now she was confused. "Let's go home." Turning from them she began to walk off, her footfalls light as she moved to get away from the large building that for some reason made her feel so fucked up, so twisted like a braid of emotions that had nowhere to go.

Danny approached her and pulling the Goth into his arms took off into the skies. They needed to find answers for this mystery and now before a lot of people ended up dead!

But hey now

Hours later found the men sitting on Sam's bed as she researched several sites about death, things that the individual had done and how he picked his victims. Just as the Goth clicked on a site that had more information about how to defeat the Death that was after her the sound of Sam's phone went off in the large room.

"Hello?" Sam's jaw dropped as she listened to the person on the other end. "Seriously? Fuck!" Hanging up she opened a new tab on her browser as the news began to play. The halfas turned their attention to that as a reporter announced that several people had been found in an abandoned theater just moments ago thanks to a tip to local police officers. The trio watched as the names of the victims were announced and both halfas turned to the Goth with a look that spelled confusion as she continued to watch the screen in shock.

"Sam, how is it that all the people who died are ones from our high school?" She looked at him, anger reflecting in her eyes. "And that most of them tormented you?"

you know, girl

"Tormented? No. They didn't torment me," she said as she turned back to the screen. "I only had one tormenter and that is not any of your fucking business." She stood, her form stiff as she turned to them. "My tormenter was around all the time, watching and waiting for a chance to take me down for no other reason then she saw me as a threat." A smirk twisted on her lips, a twist that held irony as she continued, "And sometimes those tormentors take care of that threat in one way and only one way."

"I know, Sam," Dan said, his voice low as he stood up before her. "I found out about all the times I had left you alone, all that she said and did." The Goth's smile faded as she realized that he meant it. He had seen it all. "I'm sorry I didn't see it, but you never said a word, never let us know that she was threatening you at every turn." She growled, a frustrated noise.

"I never wanted you to find out, neither of you, but I knew that eventually it would come out, it always does. The rape got out with Death, the idiocy that I did by falling for a guy who would never see it, and finally my parents." She looked away now, her amethyst gaze turned to the skies. "They deserved to die and even though that makes me a bad person I can't help but think nothing but bad about them." She let out a huff. "I loved my parents no matter what, but I could never truly forgive them in the end because as they died before me all they could think of was the hate they felt for each other and for me."

We both know it's a cruel world

"Maybe that's truly why Death is after me. I escaped and now..." she faded off leaving the pair of males with that last thought. Sam never felt pity for herself, just anger at her problems. Neither way was healthy in retrospect, but she never pitied herself and here she was now, sounding like she had given up. "That felt good," she admitted. "I just held that in for so long and all the nightmares that haunted me." When she turned to look at the men standing before her the halfas noticed that her eyes were back to their original coloring. "There is one more thing."

But I will take my chances

Walking over to Danny she leaned forward, her lips falling softly on the halfa's. At first the male before her went still, his eyes wide in shock, but then he pulled her close as he arms came around her petite body and it was as if that whole world held it's breath for the couple. As Sam pulled back, her eyes fell on the halfa's own blue gaze and he watched the light enter her gaze just as she felt the feelings she had been missing fall into place.

"Oh, my god!" she screamed suddenly as she smiled up at Danny, a smile that had been sorely missed by the halfas. "We did it! I'm cured!" She rushed out of the room, a plan to set the rest of the people free. "Hurry up!" Danny rushed out, but upon noticing that Dan failed to follow he turned to find the other halfa leaving through a portal. The younger halfa wanted to say something, but shrugging his shoulders followed Sam.

As long as you love me

Running down the street Sam screamed out, "Come on out Death!" Danny followed close behind, catching up with Sam in a matter of minutes as she screamed out again, "Don't be a fucking chicken!"

"Sam, what are you doing?" the halfa hissed. She smiled at him and yelled again, this time Death answered and he wasn't happy when he saw the pair. Danny and Sam stopped, the halfa standing as close to Sam as he could while she smiled up at the man now dressed in a black robe. He still looked the same as she had first seen him, but she knew that he was just playing a part.

"Death, I have a few things that I think you should know!" The man smirked now, his eyes full of interest. "I don't want to die and those people you have under your spell have nothing to do with me at all!" His smirk fell and to the halfa's shock the man began to glow before bursting into flames, but he wasn't done with them as the smoke cleared and the fire was gone. Now before them was a skeleton whose eyes were red like blood as he glared at her.

We could be starving, we could be homeless, we could be broke

"Samantha Manson, you called me and asked for help to kill those who did horrible things to you and that is what I did, but as always it comes at a price. Your death." A blast shot from Death's hands as he attempted to hit the Goth only to run into Danny who had stepped before the raven haired woman, his ghost shield shimmering green around them. "What the fuck?! I thought that you were coming to take me on alone, not with someone who would step in!"

"I never said I would do it alone because it takes someone strong to admit that they need help." Danny smiled before Death as Sam reached out to take his hand. That was all they had to do was prove that Sam didn't call him and she had so the pair watched as Death was suddenly sucked into a hole that had appeared from behind the skeleton. One problem happened at this point... The hole stayed open and while the pair thought they were safe in Danny's shield they soon found that wasn't true.

As long as you love me

"Oh no," Sam said as her hair was pulled forward, lightly at first like a soft breeze, but then it started pulling on the halfa blocking her form. "Danny, I have a bad feeling about this!" The halfa powered up a little, his chill stronger now as he turned to her.

"We need to move!" Rushing away with Sam in his arms Danny soon found that the suction was getting stronger now as they moved away.

YOU WILL NOT GET OFF THAT EASILY!

The pair felt the power around Danny begin to fade as his power was drawn into the space. As the power faded so did the halfa side of Danny just seconds before they found themselves flying back toward the hole. The halfa reached out for Sam and pulled her close as their forms disappeared into the darkness, the hole closing after them.


	9. Chapter 9

I'll be your platinum, I'll be your silver, I'll be your gold

When the pair opened their eyes they found that they were in total darkness, their eyes not yet adjusted to the difference in what they had been in versus what could only be described as a void.

"Danny?" came Sam's uneasy voice. "Danny!" She heard a sound to her right and turned to see nothing of course, but she still tried to see in the darkness around her. "Danny, where are you?!"

As long as you lo-lo-lo-lo-lo-lo-lo-lo-lo-lo-lo-lo-lo-lo-lo-love me

In another part of the darkness the halfa she had been looking for was looking for her too. He couldn't quite see in the darkness, but unlike Sam he could produce orbs of ecto energy that at least allowed him to see a few feet in front of him. Looking around him as the light flickered in his fingers he called out again hoping this time he would find the missing female.

"Sam! Sam!" With every call he could hear something in the distance, but there was no telling what it was from this distance. He continued toward it at the same time as someone let out a scream in the opposite direction. He turned away and ran toward the person yelling. "Sam!" As he ran toward the cries for help he failed to notice the pair of red eyes watching him.

Never doubt that I get what I want.

As long as you lo-lo-lo-lo-lo-lo-lo-lo-lo-lo-lo-lo-lo-lo-lo-love me

Sam let out a squeak as she finally ran into something, her hands touching what felt cold to the touch, but seemed to be moving. Taking a step back she was blinded as a flash of blue flames passed over her head.

"Fuck!" she cried as she began to back up, the flames lighting up the room again for the Goth to see a very familiar face, well, snout. "Aragon! What the fuck are you doing here?!" The dragon let out a chuckle before reverting to his human ghost form.

"This is hell, my dear woman. A place where most of us end up. You, though should be more concerned with your own survival since all your enemies are here." Before the raven haired woman could figure out what he was talking about she found herself being forced to the ground by her former groom. The Goth fought him, her fingers scratching at him as she attempted to throw him off of her. Unfortunately for her he wasn't alone as behind him she could see the shadows move, her eyes having adjusted to the darkness.

I'll be your soldier,

The sound of her shirt ripping filled her ears and filled her being with fear making the Goth struggle harder as a scream tore from her throat. She felt the fear clutch her stronger as the real emotions she had been deprived of were forced into the back of her mind, the emotions that Death had left her with surfacing stronger now.

Slap!

Sam's head snapped to the side, the sound of her neck snapping echoing in the space as creatures circled around her. She groaned as her head began to ache, her body becoming heavier as Aragon shoved something into her throat. He held her mouth closed as she tried to spit it up, but in seconds she was forced to swallow it. The feeling of being weighed down became stronger in seconds.

"Don't worry little woman," came Nocturne's voice from her right. "This won't make you sleep, quite the opposite in fact, but you will be unable to fight as your feelings become the opposite of what you want them to be." It was a riddle and the Goth's mind was too numb to comprehend it as she felt her body shut down. As the former prince ripped the front of her shirt off, the sound of the ripping muted as Sam found she couldn't hear a thing, even her senses were muted.

Fighting every second of the day for your dreams, girl

"We all want to fuck you up so you want to die, the feeling of having your body violated something that will never allow you peace again." She couldn't hear him, but she could read his lips, her own opening for a split second to hock a loogie into his face as she mouthed 'fuck you'.

Slap!

The sound echoed around them as he moved to complete his task in removing her clothing. As he tried the Goth beneath him began to feel the effects from the item shoved down her throat as she felt a tingling in her body, but unlike what the night time ghost has predicted she felt nothing but revulsion for the man on her and with a quick kick in the groin she shoved him off. It was as if a burst of energy had filled her, an adrenaline that she thought long gone as she looked at the man on the ground holding his ghost jewels and for some reason she found hilarity in that.

I'll be your Hova

Danny had been running for what felt like forever when he found the woman who had been screaming, her back to him, but it was the hair that caught his attention.

"Sam?" The woman paused, her body tensing as she turned to look at the halfa and what the male before him realized was he was looking at Pamela. "What the fuck?" he said as he took a step back. The woman before him began to cry, big unlady-like tears that rocked her small form.

"Fenton," she whimpered. "What-t are doing in Hell?" He explained about how he and Sam had been brought here for no other reason than denying Death a body. "Well, truthfully she deserves to rot in hell along with her fucking father, wherever that shit is." The halfa standing before her couldn't believe the words coming from the older woman's mouth, but what happened next was just downright strange as her eyes flickered to amethyst. She seemed to realize this as she turned from him to see a mirror appear on the ground before her. "Not again!"

"What the fuck is going on here? You look like Sam in some strange alternate dimension." She glared at him, her eyes turning from the mirror. She told him to take it back, but all he did was shake his head. "You shouldn't get to look like a good person, but I guess this is your punishment because you were hateful to her in life and now you have to look like her." He looked around. "Where is your husband? Did he get a good punishment?" It seemed cruel of the normally nice halfa, but she told him that her husband had already been turned into Sam, but he was a younger version of the Goth and kept getting younger with time.

"This shouldn't be just our punishment!" she wailed suddenly. "She was a bad kid!"

You could be my Destiny's Child on the scene girl

Danny found that with those words that he could no longer stay quiet about the one person who managed to be as normal as she was even through all that she had suffered. He knew her suffering had been a quiet one, but now that he could see it in the flesh he found it amazing.

"No, you were a bad parent," he corrected with narrowed eyes. "She was a person and you treated her like a doll with no feelings, just someone there to dictate and dress in your little outfits!" He spit on the ground before her, his lips curling into a hateful frown. "She deserved better and in the end she still couldn't get that love that she wanted from you. No, she didn't want love," he said. "She wanted to know that as your daughter you could understand and in the end all you cared about was the hate you had for each other and the daughter that had come from that!"

So don't stress

"She was a doll!" Pamela spat. "She was to be like a good daughter should be! Hell, we even planned on sending her to fucking boarding school, but her grandmother forbade it and told us that we would be broke if we did that. That was the only reason she was even allowed to stay in that stupid public school! My mother-in-law had me by the-"

"She wanted you to be a better parent and you failed!" At that moment the sound of someone cussing hit their ears. He turned from her and looked in the direction he had come from. Without looking back at her he rushed off in hopes that he was hearing his Goth in the distance. Then it hit him that he was still in his ghost form so cursing himself he began to fly toward the sound of a scuffle.

don't cry

What the halfa came upon made his blood boil hotter than it had moments ago. Sam was standing there with nothing on her upper body as several of his male ghost foes attempted to grab her. Unfortunately for them she was faster as she kicked out at them, her big combat boots making contact with one ghost in his guy. The only one that she couldn't seem to touch was Nocturne, the ghost glaring at her as he attempted to reach her, a fist clenched at his side and that made the halfa remember what that particular ghost did to attack.

Just before his fist came out Danny was there snatching the half clothed female to his chest before taking off. The Goth screamed behind her at the frowning ghosts before mumbling something that sounded vaguely sleepy. Danny didn't stop flying until he was sure that the ghosts were as far as possible before touching down in the darkness again. Suddenly the lights came on around them and Danny was forced back into his human form, but that didn't faze the halfa as he pulled off his black top that he had been wearing to pull it over the Goth's naked top. She looked at him sleepily, her eyes glazed, but even then he watched in complete shock as she gave him a once over. She licked her lips at him, the purple toned mouth glistening with moisture now.

we don't need no wings to fly

"You okay over there?" he questioned the raven haired woman when suddenly she lurched a bit, her form swaying as if she had downed too much drink. "Sam?"

"You are one fucking sexy man," she said seconds before throwing herself onto the halfa, her lips crashing on his heatedly.


	10. Chapter 10

Danny backed away from the woman looking at him like she was looking at a tofu dog, her tongue coming out to lick her lips again and that made him gulp because it was like she was tasting him all over again. She took a step toward him, her hips swaying seductively.

"You taste so yummy," she whispered, her eyes half lidded as she took another step toward him.

"What the fuck is wrong with you?" he questioned taking another step back, the Goth advancing on him with each step back. "Why are you acting like this?" She shrugged, her body arching suddenly as a whimper escaped her lips as she fell back from him now.

Just take my hand

"Get away from me," she whispered as her body tingled with awareness from the drugs that the ghost males had given her. "I was-s drugged." She back away even as her body called for the halfa. "I need to..." She faded off as the room grew hotter. "I need to cool off," she whispered. "Now." She turned from him and ran, not knowing where she was going but knowing she had to get away from her friend, the one person she couldn't have like that. As soon as she started to run Danny rushed after her, his shoes making loud noises around him.

"Sam, come back!" the halfa yelled. 'Fucking shit! What the hell was I thinking!?' He wanted the Goth, had realized it and then when given the opportunity to kiss her, to ease the ache he forced her off because he knew it was wrong to take her when she was obviously not herself. Somehow he had realized that something was wrong when she kissed him, like something wasn't right with her. "Sam!"

As long as you love me

"Stay away!" she screamed. Danny thought she was still talking to him, but suddenly she screamed, her cry echoing around him. "DANNY!" The halfa forced himself to run faster as the sound of struggle hit him and then a groan, a male groan. "You mother fucking bastard," Sam hissed just as Danny came upon what appeared to be an other male falling to the side of Sam who lay on the ground. Her long raven hair fanned around her head in disarray as she took a deep breath.

"Sam, are you okay?" the halfa inquired as he rushed to her side. She nodded as he helped her up. "What the hell?" The Goth brushed herself off and stopped as the action made her feel the effects of the drug again. The funny thing was that as the man had tried to force himself on her she had found little attraction to let him, unlike what the ghosts had told her it would do.

We could be starving, we could be homeless, we could be broke

"Just ran into a little issue in trying to-" she stopped as her body began to tingle again. "Fuck," she hissed as her body reacted to the fact that Danny was still too close. Taking a step away from him she warned him to keep his distance. "I don't want to do it," she muttered. "The stu-upid thing they put in me makes me want to..." she faded off, her cheeks turning red. "Have sex with you." Now it was Danny's turn to take a step back.

"Yeah, we shouldn't do that." They were both looking at the ground now like they back in high school edging around the feelings that were there. Sam blinked as she took another step back.

"We need to get out of here now, Danny," the Goth pointed out as she headed in the direction she had been heading in before being attacked. "There's no telling what Death has planned and if there is a time limit on us being in this place." The halfa nodded and began to follow her, though neither of them really knew where they were going and that was made obvious several minutes later.

"Sam, where are we going and why the hell is there nothing in this space?" They looked around to find that they were in a white space, the whole area clear of anything... a void more or less. She shrugged, her amethyst orbs looking around them.

As long as you love me

"Fuck, I don't know, I just know that you need to stay away from me and and vise versa!" she hollered, her hands flying up in frustration. "I just want to go home!" The Goth felt like crying at that point and jumping her best friend as well. She couldn't even control her own body at this point, her emotions all over the place. Danny seemed to notice her distress and knew that even though he wanted to comfort her that he couldn't go near her for fear she would jump him. Well, to be truthful he wasn't afraid of it, but he knew she was and wouldn't do anything to hurt her.

"Sam, we need to talk." She looked to him in confusion, though she knew what he wanted to talk about. "I've known you forever and lately have felt like we could be more than friends, well, that is if you wanted to try." She didn't know what to say because though it was true that she felt the same way she wasn't sure what was the right thing to do. What if their relationship didn't work? Would they be able to continue being friends or would they split? Could friends be successful partners in a more intimate situation? "What are you thinking about?"

"Would it work?" she questioned. "Would it be worth it if there was a chance that it failed?" She looked at him, her eyes full of questions and emotions, ones that she had been hiding for so long that now that she couldn't control her body, were exposed to him.

I'll be your platinum, I'll be your silver, I'll be your gold

"Sam, is it worth the risk?" He didn't even hesitate as he took a step toward her, the small woman taking a step back. "Yes. It is worth the risk." As he took a step toward her she took another step back.

"Danny, what happens if i-"

"Samantha Manson, if is the key word in that sentence and I don't think we could fail at anything even if we tried." Sam stopped moving as his words really hit her. He was claiming that it would work, that a step in that unknown territory was going to be a positive one; that he believed that they would make it. That meant a lot to her, but could she take that step even if he could?

"I don't know, Danny," she whispered. Danny pounced on her, pulling her petite frame against his more muscular one, his arms encircling her, holding her firmly against him. "Da-anny," she gasped, the drug making her body tingle again, the need to touch and be touched filling her.

As long as you lo-lo-lo-lo-lo-lo-lo-lo-lo-lo-lo-lo-lo-lo-lo-love me

"Sam, I know. I have no doubt that we were meant to be together and not even Death could separate us." It was like the world stopped and Sam knew in that moment that he was right on all accounts. They were supposed to be together and there were going to be obstacles, but was there a worse one than Death? Death was the end, but for them it was nothing. She smiled at him then, the tears that had been waiting streaking down her cheeks. Danny reached up, his hands releasing her waist as they moved to her cheeks where he wiped them away, a smile on his own lips.

Funny how being that close together made them forget all that was happening, their quest to get out of Hell and back to their home as well as the fact that Death was out for Sam's soul. It was all forgotten in that moment, none of it as important as their love.

"I love you, Sam."

"I love you, Danny." The halfa leaned down and kissing the Goth's lavender lips softly, keeping his hands on her face as he pulled back to look at her.

As long as you lo-lo-lo-lo-lo-lo-lo-lo-lo-lo-lo-lo-lo-lo-lo-love me

Suddenly the ground began to shake, the space they were in turning black as a hole opened under them. Holding onto his Goth they fell through the hole and into a new space, one that was filled with several images of Danny and Sam in various stages of life, from childhood to adulthood and with every image was a new emotion. As the pair hit the ground, Danny ensuring that Sam didn't get hurt, they looked around. Within seconds they were standing and looking, but there were several pictures that drew the Goth woman's attention that those were the ones with him kissing other women, Paulina, or even a few when he had dated Valerie.

"Forget them," he whispered in her ear.

Don't forget them, Samantha. Those were the women he chose over you!

Sam couldn't listen to that voice, it only wanted her to remember that Danny had been with other females and that was normal for a guy. They had ignored their own feelings and that was why it had happened. Shaking her head she looked to the halfa, her eyes filled with the love she felt for him because even though he had been with others he was with her now and had chosen her.

As long as you love me

"Danny, I know you've had others and although I am upset I still know who you're going home with and it isn't Paulina nor is it Valerie, so I'm okay." She turned from him now and reached out to punch the picture of Danny receiving a kiss on the cheek from a possessed Paulina. "But know this, Phantom. If you ever choose to cheat on me then I will kick your ass." A sweat drop left a trail as it slid down Danny's face. He let out a chuckle because he knew she would do it.

Before either of them could say another word Death appeared behind them causing them to turn and face him.

"You can't possibly choose to allow him to cause you pain again, Samantha. You know he will. You will cry and feel pain as he crushes your heart over and over with his choices." The Goth shook her head.

"You just want my soul and you won't get it. I know Danny and although there might be heartache later in our future, what relationship doesn't have that? Miscommunication happens, jealousy happens, but in the end I know... no, we know where our hearts lie." The robed apparition let out a growl of frustration.

"I was going to give you everything you wanted! Release from life and from all that pain it has to offer!" Sam shook her head as Danny stepped in front of her, his eyes flashing green before he transformed. "What?! I took those away!" The halfa smirked as he powered up to blast Death only to find that as soon as he hit the other male nothing happened. "Ha! You can't destroy Death! Death is part of life!"

We could be starving, we could be homeless, we could be broke

"Well, neither of us is ready to give up the ghost so fuck off!"

"Danny Phantom otherwise known as Daniel Fenton, can you prove that you would stay faithful and that she wouldn't leave you?" The halfa nodded, his facial expression serious now. "How?" That was a good question. How did you prove that you would never leave the one you pledged your life to?

"He doesn't need to because he already proved it," Sam said. "He never gave up on me even when he went evil. He saved me even though he was being controlled, if that doesn't prove that his heart is mine then nothing can." The robed figure let out another growl and throwing his hands forward hit them both with a blast. The halfa turned and shielded her with his body, but when they opened their eyes moments later they found themselves back in Amity, in the same spot they had started from.

"Are you okay?" She nodded.

"Can we go home now?" He smiled now de-transforming as he took her hand. As they walked down the street Sam smiled. "Guess that we both were pretty clueless."

"Don't forget that we were both in denial as well, but in the end we still ended up together."

"Yeah." She leaned against him. "And that is all that matters."

As long as you love me


End file.
